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Traveling musicians
(by Kara Krekeler - January 29, 2008)
One day a few weeks ago, dozens of folk musicians gathered to create some art.
But the art they were working on didn’t involve banjoes or fiddles; instead it involved painting. And they were all in it for a good cause — putting the finishing touches on the Folk School’s new location at 3155 Sutton Blvd. in Maplewood.
“It was a lot of fun. Fortunately we had somebody who actually knew what he was doing to help us out,” said Sean Ruprecht-Belt, president of the Folk School’s board of directors and a veteran folk musician who helped paint that day.
A folk musician in St. Louis for 35 years, Ruprecht-Belt took a few lessons at Folk School when it first opened in a two-room, upstairs space in University City.
As the organization started growing and then moved to a house on Big Bend in Richmond Heights in 2004, Ruprecht-Belt got more involved, joining the Board of Directors and taking on a teaching position. He currently teaches the mountain dulcimer and ukulele.
Ruprecht-Belt said the school’s organizers realized the need for a larger space about this time last year, and started hunting for a new location in April 2007.
In June, executive director and fiddle-instructor Colleen Heine drove past a new building in Maplewood, and a few months later crews began building out the space to Folk School’s specifications.
The not-for-profit organization offers lessons in several stringed instruments — including the guitar, banjo, dulcimer and fiddle — and harmonica.
“I think [moving] is the most important thing we could do in the school’s life at this time,” Ruprecht-Belt said. At the Big Bend location, “we were limited in the classes we could offer. Now we can expand the number of classes and bring in new teachers.”
Ruprecht-Belt said that the new location would also allow the school to add more musical instruments and musical styles to its repertoire. In April, for example, the school plans to offer a series of classes on contemporary folk music. The new space will also allow the school to host small concerts with visiting musicians.
“We couldn’t have done any of that without our new space,” he said.
Heine said that with more than 100 students each eight-week session, the Folk School’s old location wasn’t nearly big enough for the growing organization.
“We were just totally busting at the seams in our old building,” she said. “Classes were cramped, people were standing shoulder-to-shoulder in the lobby while waiting for classes to start.”
The new location features four large classrooms, a private lesson room, a kitchen, an office and a lobby, all situated in 2,000 square feet of space. But Heine’s favorite part is the garage door that separates the lobby from a classroom.
“Most of the time it will be down, but for certain events, we can raise it and have a giant space,” Heine said, adding that the larger space would come in handy for jam sessions held every other week, as well as one-day musical seminars. “It will allow us to do so much more.”
Fiddle student Jill Hollifield said that while the old location on Big Bend “had a certain charm, a funky ambience,” it was way too crowded, particularly during popular jam sessions or big classes. “If there were a lot of people in there, you’d get poked in the head with a bow every so often.”
Hollifield, who has a classical background and holds an advanced degree in music, said she stumbled across Folk School online when she was trying to find a place to take violin lessons. She has since taken multiple classes and is an enthusiastic fan of bluegrass and folk music. Those who call her cell phone will hear a bluegrass tune rather than a more traditional ring tone.
Hollifield said she was impressed with both the Folk School’s high level of musicianship and its acceptance of all skill levels.
“Coming from a classical background, where you’re either perfect or nothing, it’s great to see some place that accepts you, whatever your skill level,” Hollifield said, adding that before her fiddle lessons, she’d never picked up a violin; today she’s “just gotten past that fingernails-on-a-chalkboard stage.”
Ruprecht-Belt said that acceptance is key to the goals of Folk School, which are to perpetuate the folk arts in music and use them as a way to create a community.
And the not-for-profit organization has certainly made a community for itself in St. Louis: In 2001, the first class session had just 35 students, but when Heine put out the call for painters a few weeks ago, it was sent to nearly 900 people. So many responded that painting took just one day, rather than the three she had expected.
“Everyone that helped out, they all feel a kind of ownership and sense of pride” in the new building, Heine said. And for those who didn’t get a chance to help out, Heine said they will likely get their chance to check it out when classes start this week.
“I can’t wait to show everyone the new space,” she said.
For more information about Folk School, visit www.folk-school.com or call 781-2244.
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